Mending The Gap Is Harder Than Creating It In The First Place
by Selene Illusinia
Summary: More-Than-She-Seems series. The gap between Darcy, Jane, and Tony is equivalent to the Grand Canyon. Pepper wants to shrink it to the size of a creek.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm sorry it took so long to get this up, for those of you who have been waiting. I promise though, this story has some time to go. I have at least three more stories planned, including this one. Please be patient with me though. I'm juggling too many projects right now and my editing folder is a monster on it's own. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this. There's no Darcy/Loki in this chapter, but I promise they're coming back soon.**

**Enjoy everyone!**

**Illusinia**

* * *

Pepper's eyes were glued to the window as she rode through the streets of the small Colorado town. She'd insisted that Tony wasn't allowed to contact the Finches, but she'd never promised not to do so herself. Loki and Dani had taken Darcy away to a lodge in Norway a week prior to work out her emotions. The result had been Tony and Jane falling into a funk that worried Pepper more than a little.

An e-mail to Dani (who's personal e-mail address Phil had been kind enough to hand over) had confirmed the group would be gone for at least a few more days, if not longer. Dani had left early though to go research Darcy's mother in Tucsan, and was currently in Colorado checking in with her own parents. She'd also been kind enough to offer to show Pepper where the Finches lived.

Despite the apparent friction between the two friends (Natasha's words), Dani was still loyal and refused to send the address to anything electronic Pepper owned. Apparently Tony's tendency to hack anything electronic was legendary, even among the scientists of the high security R&D block. Of course, Pepper had fully agreed, which is why she was meeting Dani at a cafe the younger woman had specified.

The cab rolled to a stop in front of a locally owned coffee shop. It was small, with an overhang barring the name and several potted plants out front. The whole thing was very artistic in a way. Paying the driver, Pepper climbed out of the cab easily and headed inside.

Several of the patrons looked up as Pepper walked in, but no one really said anything. Though they certainly began whispering rapidly. She ignored everyone though in favor of heading to the back of the cafe where she could see Dani sitting. At least, she thought it was Dani. The girl in question was wearing a college sweatshirt identical to one Darcy usually wore, but had red hair were Dani's was usually a coppery brown.

Dani looked up as Pepper approached, offering her a smile and small wave. The first thing Pepper noted was that she looked exhausted. "Hey Pepper."

"Hello Dani," greeted Pepper, brow furrowing. She swore there was a mother hen streak in her; it was somehow impossible for her not to worry about an overworked or exhausted scientist. Gracefully, she slid into the seat across from Dani. "You look exhausted."

"Yeah," admitted Dani. "I found out I don't sleep well on planes."

"And you've been on several recently," stated Pepper with a shake of her head. "When was the last time you slept?"

Dani shrugged. "I caught a few hours while waiting for the plane from Tucsan to here. Does that count?"

"You're as bad as Tony," remarked Pepper with a sigh. "Have you been home yet?"

"No, my plane just landed two hours ago," explained Dani. "I know my parents won't let me leave for a while once I get there, so I opted to wait until you arrived before heading home."

"Thank you," thanked Pepper. "I really do appreciate that." Her eyes fell to Dani's coffee cup. "Are you going to be able to sleep with whatever you're drinking in your system?"

"Maybe?" replied Dani uncertainly. "It'll be fine. I've gone longer than 36 hours without sleep before."

"So has Tony," muttered Pepper. "It's never good."

Dani just shrugged. "I'm also not inclined to build crazy and potentially destructive mechanical devices when running on a lack of sleep."

"You are less destructive," admitted Pepper with a shake of her head. "Shall we go? You probably want to get home as soon as possible."

"Not really," muttered Dani with a sigh, even as she stood up. "But we probably should get going. The Finches should be home by now and you'll want to catch them early on. They used to go out in the evenings."

Pepper nodded, sliding out as well. "That would be prudent."

"Want some coffee before we go?" offered Dani, gesturing to the front of the coffee bar. "They make great espresso here."

"No, thank you," passed Pepper. "The doctor said I can't have coffee right now."

Both of Dani's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Uh, okay. Wow, that's unexpected. Have you told Tony?"

"Not yet," sighed Pepper. "I'm waiting until we have this mess with Darcy sorted out first. The last thing I want is to add stress to his current situation and there's no rush at the moment."

"Right," stated Dani with a shake of her head as she headed for the door. Apparently, she was too exhausted to really know how to handle that information. "Er, I won't tell anyone, just so you know."

"I didn't think you would," replied Pepper with a shrug, following Dani outside.

The young scientist started down the block once they were on the sidewalk. "I hope walking's okay with you. The Finches don't live very far from here. Three blocks at the most."

"That's fine," assured Pepper gently. "Where do your own parents live?"

"They live two blocks over from the Finches," explained Dani. "Near the school. Darcy and I used to walk home when we were kids, even when it was snowing out."

"You walked home?" asked Pepper, a little surprised. "Alone?"

Dani nodded. "This isn't exactly a dangerous area. Plus, we usually went to my house and the Finches would pick Darcy up from there. My house was kind of our go-to hang out before we had the junk yard."

"The junk yard," repeated Pepper, one eyebrow rising in surprise. "You spent your days in a junk yard?"

"Yeah," confirmed Dani with a nod, sipping her coffee. "Zee gave us the old auto shop on the property as a workshop. Well, he gave _Darcy_ the space in exchange for her helping him repair various things people brought around."

"That's less surprising than it should be," stated Pepper with a laugh. "I could see that, somehow."

"It worked out well for us," agreed Dani. "We had a place away from everyone where we could plan our pranks and Darcy got a killer workshop. The only downside was that she practically lived in that space in the summer or when she was angry at her parents."

Pepper nodded slowly, taking this information in. "Did she have a normal childhood?"

Dani shrugged. "As normal as any genius I'd imagine. She fought with her parents over stupid stuff, played pranks, built a mechanical dog, built her own car from the ground up, had a part-time job, and befriended the Norse God of Mischief."

"You know only about fifty percent of that is actually normal, correct?" asked Pepper with a touch of a smile. Of course Darcy didn't have a normal childhood; Stark's weren't allowed to have normal childhoods. They weren't allowed to have normal _anything_.

"I know," confirmed Dani. "That's why I said 'as normal as any genius'. We aren't allowed to be normal."

"True," agreed Pepper. "Tony's wasn't particularly normal either."

"I know, I saw the file," remarked Dani. "It was both impressive and a touch scary."

"Which is basically how Tony is in person," stated Pepper with a shake of her head.

Dani nodded. "He's like a storm."

"Or a moose," muttered Pepper.

Dani burst out laughing. "Now that's an image."

"Yes, it is," chuckled Pepper. "But sometimes I swear it's accurate with the way he stomps around when he's angry. It's like watching an enraged bull moose."

"Now he sounds like Darcy," sighed Dani. "She could really get going when you got her angry. It was hard to do most of the time, but hit the right target and you weren't getting out of that conversation before she tore a few holes in you."

"She sounds like a spitfire," stated Pepper.

"I'm almost positive that's a Foster trait," stated Dani, "based on what Darcy said about Jane when she's angry."

Pepper sighed with a nod. "How surprised were you that Darcy is related to Tony and Jane?"

"When I thought about it? I wasn't," replied Dani with a shake of her head. "I used to tease Darcy that I thought she was actually the secret love child of Tony Stark when we were kids, but I wasn't serious. Statistically, it's nearly impossible that they'd ever have contact. Literally, this whole mess _defies_ the laws of statistics. But, statistically, something has to."

"That's looping logic," muttered Pepper with a shake of her head. "What did Darcy do for fun when she was younger?"

Dani shrugged. "She'd tell you she loved playing pranks and building things. So would Loki, and she did love playing pranks. But she loved building things more. The pranks were more like her way of acting out. She had a lot of pent up anger about her parents. She'll tell you until her face is blue that she was mad her parents lied to her about her adoption, and she was. It was the pain of knowing she'd been abandoned that hurt more though."

Running a hand through her hair, Dani let out a heavy breath. "Her mother, when confronted, made the mistake of telling Darcy her biological grandparents had put her up for adoption. It left Darcy feeling abandoned, like there was something wrong with her because _clearly_ her biological family didn't want her. But she couldn't lash out at the people she wanted to, so she lashed out at her adoptive parents instead. Blamed her anger on their lie rather than the hurt she was feeling."

"But she was actually angry about the lie, correct?" asked Pepper, furrowing her brow.

"Oh yeah," confirmed Dani. "Extremely angry, and I don't blame her. She asked her parents a direct question and got a lie instead of the truth. Adoption isn't something you lie about, whether you think the person is ready to know or not."

"They were trying to protect her," argued Pepper gently. "Do you blame them?"

Dani shook her head. "It doesn't matter what how I feel about what happened, it matters what Darcy feels. Honestly, deep down, I think she knows her parents weren't trying to hurt her. The problem is, it's easier for her to believe they were."

"I don't understand," stated Pepper with a sigh. "How is it easier?"

"Because it gives her someone to be angry at," explained Dani. "It gives her someone to feel angry with over everything that happened." She stopped then, pointing towards a house on the corner of the street. "That's the house you want."

Pepper nodded, examining the house Dani had pointed at. It was a simple two story house, English cottage architecture. The front yard was small but well-kept, with a tall wooden fence blocking any view of the back. "It looks nice."

"It is," agreed Dani. Turning to Pepper, the young scientist was careful to meet her gaze. "Look Pepper, no matter what Darcy has said about them, the Finches are nice people. They're human and they've made mistakes, but a lot of the friction between them and Darcy comes from the way her mind works versus theirs. They could never completely understand where she was coming from or how she saw the world. To them, her skill with all things mechanical was a talent that she should apply to get ahead in the world. To Darcy, it was a passion that she was willing to consider turning into a job so long as the job didn't take the passion out of her work. She didn't see eye to eye with them on much, so don't let her opinion of them color yours too much before you meet them."

"I wasn't planning to," assured Pepper. "But it's good to know at least one person who knew them thinks they were good parents."

"I think they're good _people_," corrected Dani with a shake of her head. "I can't comment on their parenting because I'm biased."

Pepper chuckled a little. "Regardless, at least someone thinks they're nice."

"Yeah, they are," confirmed Dani. "But please, no matter what they ask, don't give them a way to get into contact with Darcy. If they're going to get that information, it needs to be from _Darcy _and not someone who _knows_ her."

"Understood," assured Pepper. "I'll be careful not to give too much away."

"Thanks," thanked Dani with a sigh. "I need to get home, but if you need anything just call. And good luck."

"Thank you," thanked Pepper. "I will."

Dani nodded and waved before heading further down the block and turning the corner. Once the young scientist was gone, Pepper took a moment longer to just stare at the house. It was hard to believe Darcy had grown up in a place like this. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, but it wasn't this place. Everything was neat and tidy, certainly not the kind of place anyone would expect to find a genius prankster who happened to be best friends with the God of Mischief.

Taking a fortifying breath and wondering for what had to be the tenth time if she was overstepping some boundary, Pepper crossed the street and started up the Finches' walk. Their yard was very well tended, not a dead flower in sight. The house had no chipping paint or any signs of age. It might have been creepy if it weren't so pretty.

Knocking, Pepper stepped a little ways back from the door and forced herself to relax. She was visiting the childhood home of her boss-turned-lover's unknown daughter in hopes that she could obtain information about said daughter's childhood. There was absolutely nothing weird about this.

That was a lie. Everything about this was weird. She just refused to accept that.

An older woman answered the door, offering Pepper a warm smile. She was probably of moderate build with blond hair and slightly tanned skin, likely from gardening. Her eyes were a light brown that looked to be flecked with something, although it was hard to say what. Really though, she looked nothing like Darcy. "Can I help you?"

Pepper offered the woman her best 'hello, it's very nice to meet you' smile. "I hope so. Are you Mrs. Finche?"

"I'm Isabelle Finche," confirmed the woman, brow furrowing. "Can I help you?"

"My name is Virginia Potts," greeted Pepper, offering Isabelle her hand. "I'm the CEO of Stark Industries."

Isabelle's eyes widened, followed by a quick nod. "It's a pleasure, Ms. Potts. What can I do for you?"

"Well," began Pepper, fishing a photograph of Darcy out of her purse. "I'm trying to find out more information about an employee, one Darcy Lewis." She offered the photo to Isabelle, who's eyes went wider and began to tear up. "I believe you may know her?"

"Yes," confirmed Isabelle, taking the photo reverently. "She's my daughter." Opening the door further, Isabelle gestured for Pepper to enter. "Please, come in. My husband is in the kitchen, if you could just wait a moment. Go ahead and take a seat. Can I get you anything?"

"Water, please," requested Pepper kindly, noting the almost frantic way the woman moved to the kitchen. She moved into the room Isabelle had gestured too, her eyes sweeping the space curiously as she took a seat on one of two chairs opposite the couch in the room.

Both Isabelle and her husband were back less than a moment later, faster than Pepper could even evaluate anything about the room. The woman handed Pepper a bottle of water while the man Pepper assumed was Mr. Finche took a seat across from her.

"Miss Potts, correct?" asked the man, running one hand over the top of his balding head. He looked several years older than his wife, though that could have been genetics. The top of is head was entirely bald, with hair only on the sides. The remaining hair was salt and pepper in color and thinning relatively rapidly. His brown eyes rose to meet hers, hope and fear clashing across his face. "I'm Adam Finche. You're here about our daughter, Darcy?"

"That's correct," confirmed Pepper, taking the bottle of water gratefully and sipping at the liquid. "I'm trying to gather some information for Mr. Stark."

"I don't understand," muttered Isabelle. "We haven't seen our daughter in years. She-" The older woman's voice hitched, forcing her to stop speaking.

Adam picked up the conversation from there. "Our daughter stopped speaking to us years ago."

"I'm aware," stated Pepper calmly. "She fought with you over her decision to change majors."

Isabelle nodded, tears forming in her eyes. "We were so afraid she was making a rash choice she'd later regret that we- we pushed too hard and she left. Just left."

"Loosing a friend can cause people to do some dramatic things," agreed Pepper. "She told us what happened."

"She- she told you-" started Isabelle, her eyes going wide.

"Us?" repeated Adam, brow furrowing in confusion. "I don't understand. You know our daughter personally?"

"Yes," confirmed Pepper gently. "She works with Tony regularly. They're...like minded. She's extremely talented."

"She is," agreed Isabelle slowly. "But I don't understand. She said she was changing to political science. Did she switch back?"

"No, she graduated with a political science degree," confirmed Pepper. "But there were some...extenuating circumstances I can't discuss that resulted in her returning to the engineering field. Which leads me to what I came to discuss with you." Withdrawing an envelope from her purse, Pepper offered the folded papers to the Finches. Adam was the one to take the envelope. "Part of the standard Stark Industries employee agreement includes the taking of a DNA sample for access purposes. We use biometric scanners in some of the more secure areas. When her DNA was taken, I had it run through the national database, just to ensure it didn't match any on-going investigations. I also ran it through the Stark Industries database for the sole purpose of checking that she hadn't formerly worked for us. The Stark Industries database came back with a partial match. Further analysis confirmed it was a paternal match. Her biological father is listed in that envelope, if you want to know."

Adam didn't waist any time opening the envelope and withdrawing the folded sheet of paper inside. Of course, Pepper knew what it would say. She couldn't tell the Finches the truth, S.H.I.E.L.D security protocols were too strict. Besides, her story wasn't that far fetched; they really did regularly screen new employees to ensure no one had a criminal record. The second part was more of a stretch and restricted to the engineering division, but again it wasn't that far of a stretch.

"Wait," ordered Isabelle, looking directly at Pepper. "Is this legal? Knowing this information?"

Pepper nodded. "I have the consent of her biological father."

Nodding, Adam carefully unfolded the paper and just stared at it. Beside him, Isabelle choked a little and covered her mouth with one hand. "Is- is this right? Are you sure this is right?"

"Positive," confirmed Pepper. "We ran the test twice."

"But this means..." started Isabelle, shaking her head slowly.

Adam picked up where his wife left off easily. "This means we adopted Tony Stark's daughter."

"I don't understand," whispered Isabelle. "Why would he give up his daughter?"

And this was where things got tricky. Well, would. Could. Technically, this is where things did get a little tricky. "He didn't."

That caught both parent's attention. They were just staring at her. Like they couldn't understand.

"That's not possible," insisted Adam "We adopted her legally. How could we do that if her father didn't consent?"

"Because Darcy's biological mother never named her father," explained Pepper gently. "She died before she could. As a result, Tony never knew about Darcy until these tests were run."

"So we didn't legally adopt her," muttered Isabelle, clearly horrified.

Pepper shook her head. "As far as Tony is concerned, you did legally adopt her. There was no way you could have known her father hadn't actually consented. Especially because it was her grandparents that put her up for adoption according to her biological cousin."

"Biological cousin?" repeated Adam. "She has a cousin?"

"Yes," confirmed Pepper. "A Stark Industries associate. Her cousin is actually how she became involved with Stark industries to begin with." Leaning forward, Pepper locked eyes with both parents. "That isn't why I'm here, though. I'm here because Tony has become...distraught over this entire matter. He's upset that he never knew his daughter and knows so little about her life. Darcy, for her part, has disappeared for the moment with an old friend you may be familiar with. His name is Loki."

"I remember Loki," muttered Adam with a sigh. "I didn't like him."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "You just didn't like the fact that Darcy clearly liked him as more than a friend."

"He got her into trouble!" argued Adam. "More than once!"

"That's not a surprise," admitted Pepper. "But you should know, the way Darcy talks, it sounds like most of the trouble she got into on her own."

"She did get into a lot of trouble on her own," confirmed Isabelle. "She actually started getting into _less_ trouble once she started hanging out with Loki. Or at least she stopped getting caught."

"Anyway," continued Pepper, not wanting to rehash what is clearly an old argument, "he's taken her away for the moment so she can regain her balance. Which has left Tony slightly depressed. I came here hoping you might have copies of something that could help. Video, photographs, anything that could give him even a glance into her life."

Adam's eyes narrowed at Pepper, suspicion crossing his features. "And why would Mr. Stark want any of that?"

"Adam!" exclaimed Isabelle, her voice filled with embarrassed shock. "The man is her father and never knew it. He just wants to know about his daughter. This is _Darcy_ we're discussing. She doesn't _talk_ about her personal life with anyone."

"Mrs. Finche is correct," confirmed Pepper. "Tony is feeling distraught that he never knew his daughter and is only now getting the chance to actually become her father in _any_ context." Seeing the mistrust in Adam's eyes along with the hurt, she added: "You're daughter isn't trying to _replace_ you, Mr. Finch. Based on her reaction to the news, I doubt she'll want anything to change. But it will make Tony feel better just to know that his daughter's life has been good and that she was and is loved by the people who adopted her."

"Put yourself in his shoes, Adam," requested Isabelle quietly. "If you just found out that you had a daughter you didn't know about, wouldn't you want to learn everything you could about her?"

Adam didn't say a word, just stood up and left the room silently. Isabelle made a noise but didn't follow, turning her focus on Pepper instead. "I'm sorry for that, Miss Potts."

"Please, call me Pepper," requested Pepper gently. "I know this isn't easy for either of you to hear and I can guess what your husband is feeling; I'm just trying to give Tony some peace."

Isabelle nodded, offering Pepper a soft smile. "It can't be easy to find out you have a daughter you never knew about. Especially one as closed-lipped as Darcy."

"It isn't," confirmed Pepper softly. "I just want him to find some kind of peace in everything. He's a good man who just found himself in a situation he doesn't know how to interpret."

"Would he have taken her if he'd known about her?" asked Isabelle gently, even as she stood and headed for a bookshelf in the room.

Pepper shrugged slightly, watching the older woman move around. "I like to think he would have. Tony was an immature child when Darcy would have been born, but I think having someone like her in his life would have sobered him up. Maybe even kept him out of trouble, at least some of it."

Nodding, Isabelle pulled a book off the shelf and held it to her chest before returning to her original seat. "Does he really want to become her father now?"

"He'd already more or less been acting as her psudo-father before we found out about any of this," replied Pepper with a soft smile. "I see them working together and I see two people who are so much alike it wasn't much of a shock when someone said they actually were related."

"I wish she could have been the one to tell us," muttered Isabelle softly, her hand caressing the front of the book in her hands. Opening the cover, she offered the book to Pepper. "Darcy was such a happy child until she started asking about if we were her parents or not." Sighing, Isabelle clasped her hands in front of her. "I wish I hadn't lied to her now. I wish that I'd just sat down and answered her truthfully when she asked the first time."

"She was eight," pointed out Pepper gently, her eyes falling to the photos in front of her. A sleeping infant stared back at her, snuggled in the arms of a younger Isabelle Finche. "You did what you thought was best."

"It didn't feel that way when she confronted me," muttered Isabelle with a shake of her head. "Did Darcy tell you what happened?"

"No," replied Pepper quietly. She wanted to hear the story from Isabelle, rather than excuses for her actions. Excuses never did anyone any good.

Isabelle sighed, hands tightening more. "Someone should explain..."

"_Mom."_

_Isabelle turned in surprise at the sound of her daughter's voice. Darcy was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, one hand behind her back and a blank expression painted across her face. The normally energetic ten year old's eyes weren't excited or happy as they usually were; they were completely blank. _

"_Darcy?" asked Isabelle worriedly. "What are you doing home from school? Are you sick? Did something bad happen?"_

_Darcy carefully met her mother's eyes, face not giving anything away. Isabelle had only seen Darcy shut down like this once, the first time a bully had pushed her around for being smart. It had taken ages to convince her daughter there was nothing wrong with being smart; that it was a good thing. "Why did you lie to me?"_

_The statement made Isabelle balk. Where was this coming from? What was Darcy even talking about? "Sweetheart, what are you-"_

"_You told me I wasn't adopted," stated Darcy, eyes darkening as her temper started up. It was rare for Darcy to explode, but the few times it had happened started with large amounts of shouting and ended with Darcy refusing to speak to anyone for days afterwords. "It was a lie. I want to know why you lied."_

_Isabelle felt ice form in her stomach. There had been no sign Darcy suspected she was adopted since she'd asked the first time. When they'd adopted her, the agency had recommended they not bring the topic up until she was at least fourteen to ensure their daughter could actually understand what had happened. Every child reacted so differently to the news, it was hard to say when was a good time. At the time, she and Adam had decided to wait._

_She ended up spitting out the first thing that came to mind. "Darcy, what are you talking about? We never lied to you. You're our daught-"_

"_I'm your _adopted_ daughter," specified Darcy, a scowl forming on her ten year old face. "And don't try to lie. I know you and Dad can't be my biological parents." Pulling her arm out from behind her back, she held up a worksheet from school. "This is a Punnette square, used for determining biological probability. It's genetically impossible for someone to inherit traits that their parent's don't carry. I'm blood type O-positive. You and Dad are AB- and B-negative. It's impossible for me to have the O blood type if you're my parents, much less be O-positive. You're type AB, so you automatically can't be my biological mom because you don't carry the type-O gene. Dad could theoretically still be my dad biologically, except for the fact I'm blood type O-positive. The only way I could have Rh protein positive blood is if one of you did, too. And you're both negative. The more I sketch out my genetic code, the clearer that becomes that the chance I'm actually genetically related to one of you is very unlikely. So why did you lie?"_

_Sighing, Isabelle dropped into the first chair she could reach. God, this was a mess. Yes, she could lie further, but at what cost later? Darcy was a very smart child; frighteningly so. She had evidence to the contrary that they were her parents and she wasn't going to listen to any more attempts to dissuade her. "We lied to you because we didn't think you were ready to know."_

"_If I didn't want to know, I wouldn't have asked," growled Darcy, dropping the paper in her hand on the table. "I kept feeling like a freak because I wasn't like you and Dad. I don't really look like either of you, I'm not good at the same stuff as you two are, and I don't have the same habits. I'm nothing like either of you, and it made me feel like I was broken. Instead, I'm not actually broken because I'm not your daughter to begin with!"_

"_That isn't true!" stated Isabelle firmly, her own anger and distress pushing forward. "We raised you, Darcy. You're our daughter. You don't have to share our _blood_ for that to be true. We love you as if you were our daughter biologically. When it was confirmed your grandparents had signed the papers that let us adopt you, we were ecstatic because we finally had our own baby girl. Our own child! You are our child, Darcy. You are our baby girl, regardless of anything else! We got you when you were just three days old! We've taken care of you ever since, that's what makes us your parents!"_

_Darcy's face dropped, anger fleeing only to be replaced by horror and pain. "My grandparents..." Without another word, the little girl turned and ran from the room._

_Isabelle jumped up to go after her, but the outside door slammed shut before she could reach the kitchen archway. Darcy was gone from the room, and only the piece of paper that had started all of this was left behind. The only evidence that the whole thing hadn't just been a dream._

Pepper sighed as her eyes dropped to the album in her lap. The story was the same, but hearing it from Isabelle gave her some clarity about everything. She could only imagine how hard it must have been for Darcy to just outright accuse both Isabelle and Adam of lying to her; to be caught off guard like that by your own child with no time to try and rectify anything couldn't have been easy.

"I wish I hadn't lied to her," whispered Isabelle. The woman's hands were shaking where they were clenched in her lap. "I wish we'd just told her the truth when she asked. Darcy is so much smarter than either of us, it was only a matter of time before she figured out the truth."

"Hind sight is twenty/twenty," stated Pepper gently. "You had no way of knowing that would happen."

"No," agreed Isabelle, "but nothing was the same after that. Darcy started getting into trouble and we just watched our little girl transform into someone we didn't know."

"All children do that," pointed out Pepper, offering Isabelle a smile. "Plus, Darcy is a Stark. I'm relatively certain it's impossible for them to avoid getting into trouble, regardless of how they were raised."

Isabelle sighed heavily, nodding slightly. "Perhaps. And perhaps we drove her to such things."

It broke Pepper's heart a little to see the woman in front of her crumble so much. She hadn't intended to cause any pain with her visit, though she'd known it was unlikely to be painless. Reaching out one hand, she carefully lay it over both of Isabelle's. "You can't blame yourself for the past, there's nothing you can do to change any of that."

"I know," whispered Isabelle, offering her a halfhearted smile. "I just wish she would speak to us." Looking up, the woman stared at Pepper hopefully. "Is- is she alright? Does she seem happy?"

"Relatively," replied Pepper, letting out her own sigh. "Having her adoption come up again seems to have spooked her, but she seems alright. Loki is taking good care of her."

The halfhearted smile became a bit firmer. "She had a crush on him for as long as I can remember. She, Loki, and Dani would all come over to watch movies and sleep in the living room and every morning, I'd get up to find Darcy curled against Loki. Once, I came down when they were all asleep just as Darcy rolled over to curl next to Loki. He didn't even stir when she rolled into his side, just tossed an arm around her waist and hugged her close. Adam never liked it, but I thought it was very cute."

"They're very happy together," remarked Pepper, smiling slightly as she thought of the few times she'd walked into the living room of Stark Mansion to find Loki sleeping on the couch with Darcy curled up on top of him. "She's happy, just so you know. Tony built her a workshop that's connected to his own and they were spending a lot of time together before this whole mess. They have been responsible for more than one explosion."

"She's really happy?" asked Isabelle, joy slowly replacing the self-loathing and despair in her eyes.

"Really," assured Pepper, squeezing Isabelle's joined hands. "I've gotten to know Darcy well in the past half a year, and she's very happy with where she is."

Isabelle nodded, her hands relaxing beneath Pepper's. "I- I don't suppose you could give us a way to contact her."

Pepper had known there was a very good chance someone would make this request. She'd actually prepared to tell them if they wanted to speak with Darcy, they would need to contact her though the Stark Industries phone lines. But after Dani's request earlier, she couldn't even bring herself to do that. "Unfortunately, I can't. It's against Stark Industries protocol to give out personal information to anyone." Reaching into her purse, Pepper withdrew a business card and offered it to Isabelle. "It's not your daughter's contact information, but I can be reached at any time on my cellphone and I promise, I will talk with Darcy about reestablishing contact with you."

Nodding sadly, Isabelle took the business card and carefully turned it over in her hands. "Thank you, for both the business card and respecting our daughter's privacy. It's good to know she has people watching over her."

Before Pepper could respond, however, Adam reentered the room with a large box in his arms. Dropping it on the table in front of Pepper, he huffed out a sigh and dropped back into his original seat. "Those are our duplicates. Photos, burned CD's of movies, the works. Tell Mr. Stark that I hope he enjoys being a father."

"Adam!" scolded Isabelle. "Mr. Stark isn't trying to replace us as her parents. He wants to know his daughter."

"And clearly Darcy prefers him as her father," snapped Adam. "She hasn't even spoken to us in years and now we find out she's found her biological father? It's hard to believe that he's not replacing us."

"He isn't," broke in Pepper, attempting to diffuse the situation. "Mr. Stark doesn't want to replace anyone." Sighing, she rubbed the bridge of her nose a little. "Tony is a lot of things, but he's not a replacement for anyone's parents and he wouldn't want to be."

Closing the album in her lap, Pepper carefully handed it back to Isabelle and focused on Adam. "After the information concerning her connection to Tony came out, Darcy ran. She doesn't want things to change and Tony isn't going to push that. If she wanted Tony to replace you, Mr. Finche, she wouldn't have bolted like she did. This entire situation has thrown everyone for a loop and, right now, Tony is feeling guilty. He won't admit it, but I know his 'guilty' face. He feels like somehow, he should have known about Darcy and raised her himself. But he can't do that and all he wants to do now is learn about his daughter."

"Then why hasn't she contacted us?" growled Adam. "If for no other reason than to tell us she found her biological father?"

"Because she only found out a week and a half ago," replied Pepper, trying to keep her voice as even as possible. "And she's been in Norway for a week of that time with Loki, trying to sort out how she feels about all of this."

"We also didn't part on the best of terms," added Isabelle as gently as she could. "I tried to make it clear that we were here for her no matter what, but she may not feel like she can discuss this with us."

Adam sighed heavily, resting his forehead in his hand. "Can we contact her?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't give away personal information for Stark Industries employees to anyone," apologized Pepper. "But I've given your wife my business card, which has my cellphone on it. You can contact me any time if you're worried or have questions and I will speak with Darcy about reestablishing contact with you. I'm not going to make any promises, but I will discuss it with her."

"Thank you, Pepper," thanked Isabelle as she stood and offered a hand to Pepper.

She nodded and stood as well, shaking Isabelle's hand. "No, I should be the one thanking both of you. I know this can't be easy."

"It's not," admitted Isabelle, "but we're happy to hear that Darcy is alive and doing well. Please, let me walk you out."

"Thank you," thanked Pepper as she picked up the box and her purse. "I'll make sure you get these back as soon as possible."

"Those are all duplicates," informed Adam, though he didn't look up. "Mr. Stark can keep them, or Darcy can if she wants them."

Pepper swallowed hard, acutely aware of the pain the man in front of her was feeling. "I'm sure Darcy would love them. We all have a history, and we shouldn't forget it."

Following Isabelle back to the front door, Pepper was careful to shift the box under her arm so she could shake Isabelle's hand again. "Thank you once more, Mrs. Finche."

"Isabelle," corrected Isabelle. "I should have told you that earlier. Everything was just happening so fast, I forgot."

"It's alright," assured Pepper. "I'm sure I'll be hearing from you again."

"You will," confirmed Isabelle with a small smile. Glancing back at the living room over her shoulder, the other woman carefully stepped outside and shut the front door. "For the record, I really am happy that Darcy found her father. If we'd known he didn't know she existed, we wouldn't have adopted her. As things stood, we were told all of the consent forms were signed by her family."

"Her mother died before she could name Darcy's father," explained Pepper. "That's why no one ever knew. This whole thing is a massive fluke; statistically, Darcy never should have run into her father."

"I prefer to think of it as fate," replied Isabelle, sighing. "I'm sorry to hear that her mother is dead, but maybe that's for the better. Darcy had a hard time facing the fact that she was given up for adoption to being with. We knew her grandparents had been the ones to put her up for adoption, but we weren't aware her mother was actually dead. We'd always assumed she was underage."

"Natalie Foster was her mother's name," informed Pepper quietly. "I probably shouldn't tell you that, but I'm not sure there's much harm in it given the circumstances. Her mother was a PhD student, 27, at the University of Arizona in Tucsan. There were complications when Darcy was born."

Isabelle nodded slowly, tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. "Adam and I couldn't conceive. We tried and tried, but nothing worked. Finally, we just decided to adopt. I love my daughter to death, Pepper. But if I'd known her father didn't know about her, I wouldn't have adopted her."

Pepper smiled reassuringly at the woman. "No one blames you for this. You gave Darcy a wonderful childhood and raised her well. That's all anyone can ask of you."

Nodding, Isabelle wiped the corners of her eyes and pointed to the street. "Do you have a car?"

"No, I'll walk back to the main street and grab a taxi to the airport," replied Pepper. "I'll be fine."

"Alright," sighed Isabelle. "Take care Pepper, and I will call you to check on my baby. Be aware of that."

"I look forward to it," assured Pepper. "Try to have a good rest of the evening."

"Safe trip," answered Isabelle before she turned and disappeared back inside.

Releasing the heavy breath Pepper had been holding in through most of the conversation, she turned towards the street and started to head back to the cafe. That was one of the hardest conversations of her life, and she never wanted to do it again. _If Tony has any more illegitimate children, he can deal with them himself. I am never talking to the adoptive parents of Tony's love child again. Ever._


	2. Chapter 2

**So I apologize for this taking so long. My edit folder, as may of you may have now surmised, was backlogged and now the backlog is, partially clear. The stuff I could take from it has been removed at least. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I haven't even started on three yet because, being the bloody loon I am, I've been focusing on getting the details of the (far more complex) story that follows THIS ONE done. Please bear with me. The good news is that that means when I post THAT story, it'll mostly be finished and should come up quickly. Anyway, enjoy.**

**-Illusinia**

* * *

Tony jumped a little as a box hit his work table, startling him. Glancing up, he found Pepper standing beside him, one hand resting on the box. Behind her, he could see Dani perched on one of the work tables in the room. She looked like hell, but she was back.

So, he asked the first question that came to mind. "Is Darcy back?"

"No, she's still away," replied Pepper as she flipped open the flaps of the box.

Furrowing his brow, Tony leaned around Pepper to confirm he had see Dani perched on the table. Sometimes the 10th cup of coffee on a three day bender without sleep made him hilucinate. "So what's Natasha's twin doing back?"

"I went to see my parents," supplied Dani with a scowl. "They weren't there. Apparently, in the time since I 'died', they moved or something."

"Harsh," remarked Tony, looking back at Pepper. "So, why's she here? No offense Dani, but S.H.I.E.L.D. staff people don't usually hang around my lab without a reason."

"Ask Pepper," replied Dani.

Pepper flipped open the lid of the box and began to remove stacks of photos. "I took the liberty of visiting Darcy's adoptive parents on your behalf, in hopes they could tell me more about Darcy. Information I wanted to pass on to you." Lifting out a shoe box, she flipped it open and found stacks of DVD's inside. "Dani offered to interpret."

Dani shrugged. "You gave me a lift back and an Ambien. It's the least I could do."

"You don't need to repay me for any of that," assured Pepper.

"Yeah, I do," countered Dani, hopping off the table and circling around to where Pepper was stacking the photos. Randomly, she picked up a stack and started to flip through them. "We have rules for a reason. Our biggest one was that we'd help others without an expectation of return because we are strong enough to take whatever is thrown at us, but when we get help, we return the favor." Shrugging, she pulled out a few of the photos from the stack. "Plus, reliving old memories can be fun."

Flipping the image around, she revealed a photo of herself and Darcy. They were maybe five years old and grinning like loons at the camera. "For example, first day of kindergarten." She slid the image of rest in front of Tony. "That's the day we met."

"You guys look like best friends," cooed Pepper.

"We were, even back then," confirmed Dani with a shake of her head. "We didn't even speak the same language, literally, and yet we were close friends."

"How does that work, anyway?" asked Tony with a raised eyebrow. "Can you even be best friends if you can't speak the same language?"

Dani shrugged. "We did it. I spoke mostly Russian with some English, she spoke all English. I learned English from her, she learned Russian from me."

"So you taught each other," concluded Pepper with a nod, picking up another stack of photos. "That makes sense." Flipping through the images, she paused on one and pulled it from the stack. "What's this from?"

Taking the photo, Dani smiled at the image. "That would be from summer camp."

"Darcy went to summer camp?" asked Tony curiously, taking the stack of photos from Pepper and flipping through the images. "Huh. What's with the string? You guys keep taking pictures with string."

"Arts and Crafts," supplied Dani, tossing the photo in her hands back into the box. "Darcy ended up building a catapult instead of whatever we were supposed to build. Then we nearly burned down the camp trying to figure out if we could build a fire-proof basket. Suffice to say, we were banned."

Tony raised an eyebrow at Dani. "Why were you trying to build a fire-proof basket?"

"I have no idea," admitted Dani. "Something about catapult ammunition and the boys cabin. That's all I can remember."

Pepper shook her head, one of her hands resting on her hip. "So, the trouble making streak didn't start when you were ten then."

"Definitely not," confirmed Dani. "We started accidentally causing trouble when we were seven. It's the intentional trouble-making that started when we were ten. And then Loki ramped it up when we met him, so high school was really chaotic."

Tony nodded, digging around in the box a little further and coming up with another stack of photos. He flipped through them curiously for a moment, then began spreading them out on the table. "JARVIS, scan all of these photos into the mainframe and create a folder for them."

"Yes, sir," confirmed JARVIS. "Scan commencing."

As the green light that indicated the scan swept over the photos, Tony pulled out another stack and began flipping through them. "I know these. These are the ones from that science fair."

"The one that awarded us attention from almost every national college over night," confirmed Dani. "We didn't know there were college recruiters at the fair until we got there. Not that we really cared."

"How did we miss you guys?" muttered Tony, staring at the photos. "I mean, Stark Industries is always recruiting."

"At the college level," reminded Pepper. "They were in high school."

Tony nodded, turning to look at Pepper. "We're changing that policy, by the way. From now on I want us to recruit at the high school level, too. I mean, what if Hammer had gotten to her? My daughter would be working for that slime ball and I'd never know it."

Dani shook her head. "Nah, Darcy has hated Justin Hammer for as long as I can remember. She never would have worked for him."

"Well, at least that's a relief," muttered Tony as he gathered the photos from the table and spread out another stack. Glancing at the photo's he'd laid out before, he frowned and spun one towards Dani. It was of Dani, Darcy, and a young man with black hair all gathered in what looked like an old garage "What's this?"

"Darcy's old workshop, when we first got it set up," replied Dani, taking the photo and smiling softly. "I haven't seen this photo in years. Didn't think the Finches had a copy of it."

Pepper leaned over Dani's shoulder to look at the photo, one finger rising to point at the black-haired boy. "Is that...Loki?"

"Yep," confirmed Dani. "That's what he looked like when we were younger. Really doesn't look much different now except he's a little taller."

Tony nodded slowly, staring at the image. "Does it ever disturb you guys? The fact that he lied about who he was to you?"

"It's like I told Steve," replied Dani with a shake of her head. "'Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies'. We never asked, so he never had to lie."

"C'mon, you guys really never even asked?" challenged Tony in disbelief. "You're both scientists. You must have been curious."

Dani shrugged again, setting down the picture and sliding it towards Tony. "I never said we weren't. But we also knew if we asked, he might lie. We all have our secrets, Mr. Stark. We weren't going to put Loki into a position where he had to lie to us. Simple as that."

"That still doesn't make sense," muttered Tony. "I mean, you talk about trust, but why would you trust someone if you knew they might lie to you about anything?"

"Because he never screwed us over," explained Dani. "He never willingly lied to us as far as we could tell and there was something about him that was...uncanny. Besides, we didn't discuss Darcy's parental issues with him and he never pushed even though the tension was thick enough to cut. To us, that was enough to warrant our trust, which meant trusting him enough to not push."

"But-" started Tony, only for Pepper to cover his mouth.

"Enough Tony, they didn't ask," stated Pepper with a sigh. "That's all that matters."

He muttered and tried to speak but Pepper refused to remove her hand. Instead, she took a seat on the edge of the work table and looked towards Dani. "When he finishes with these pictures, could you give them to Darcy if she wants them? I'm not sure how badly I may have crossed her personal boundary, but her parents made it clear they wanted Darcy to have them."

"Yeah," confirmed Dani. "Loki can give them to her when he and Darcy get back."

Pepper nodded, flipping another of the photos towards her. It was a very young shot of Darcy, maybe three, grinning happily between the Finches, who both looked happy beyond words. "They really did love her."

"They've always loved her, and she knows that," confirmed Dani. "She just has trouble _trusting_ them."

Sick of having his mouth covered, Tony licked Pepper's palm, causing her to yelp in surprise and pull her hand away. "Tony!"

He just smirked at her. "What? I thought you liked my tongue."

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Dani quickly moving away from the workbench. "Um, I'm just gonna leave now. I don't need to know any of this."

"No, it's fine Dani," assured Pepper, glaring at Tony. "Tony's going to behave, right Tony?"

"Uh, I _am_ behaving," informed Tony with a smirk. He wasn't surprised when Pepper threw a glare at him that nearly made a shiver run down his spine. Okay, so bringing up their bedroom life in front of his surprise daughter's best friend might have been a bad move...

Shaking her head, Dani actually started chuckling. "You sound like Darcy."

"Huh?" asked Tony, surprise taking over his features.

"Darcy does that sometimes, makes these inappropriate comments and then claims she's behaving," explained Dani with a faint smile. "It's part of why I used to joke she might be a Stark." Her smile fell some along with her eyes, her fingers fiddling with a random screw. "Never thought it might actually be true."

Tony rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, eyes dropping to the workbench. "Yeah, well, I never thought I'd have a kid either."

Pepper's hand lightly dropped to his shoulder, squeezing it softly. "This has taken everyone by surprise."

Dani snorted slightly. "I'm not sure there's a way this _wouldn't_ take someone by surprise. Meeting your biological father and finding out he's actually your boss and friend is kinda like getting slapped in the face by a midget with a fish while walking down the street."

"That's one way to describe it," muttered Tony, shaking his head and switching out the photos again. One of the images caught his eye, making him pause. It was of Darcy, grinning at the camera like a loon. Her glasses were slightly skewed, face proud as she leaned backwards on the hood of her car. Her feet were resting on the front bumper and she was resting on her palms pressed to the edge of the hood. It was like looking at a proud parent.

Standing up, Tony headed for one of the corners of his workshop. He rarely used this corner and it would have been easier to ask JARVIS to pull up the digital copy, but somehow this felt like was something that he needed to do with hard copies. It felt wrong to do anything less.

Digging out an old box from it's hiding place, Tony flipped open the nondescript lid and shifted through the contents of his memory box until he found exactly what he was looking for. The small piece of photo paper that had come to mind as he'd looked at Darcy with her car. Of course, Tony wasn't with a car in this photo, nor was he anywhere near sixteen. Instead, he's closer to six and his photo companion is Dummy. But the smiles worn by both Starks, the way they look like proud parents...it's the same. Exactly the same. So much so that it's actually painful for Tony to examine.

He must have been gone for longer than he thinks, because suddenly there's a hand on his back and someone leaning over his shoulder from behind. A lock of Pepper's hair brushes against his face, drawing his attention as easily as the hand resting gently on his shoulder.

Idly, she squeezes his shoulder lightly and gestures at the photos. "She looks like you."

"Just like me," agreed Tony with a sigh, his eyes falling back to the images in his hands. "She's my little girl, Pepper. The little girl I never got the chance to raise." Groaning, he dropped his head against Pepper's shoulder and looked up at her. "Think we could go after her grandparents for falsifying an adoption?"

Pepper shook her head sadly, hoping up on a clean corner of the table next to where Tony hid his memory box. "Unfortunately, there wasn't anything actually illegal about the adoption. You weren't named as the father and her grandparents didn't know who the father was."

"So they could just give my baby girl away without even attempting to find me?" asked Tony with a growl as he picked his head up to stare back at the photos. "That's just..." He dropped the photo of himself back in the box, using his now free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. God, he felt like he was going to vomit. Yeah, Darcy got lucky and found herself in a good home, but what if she hadn't? What would have happened then? "It makes me sick, Pep. Deeply sick."

"I know it does, Tony," assured Pepper gently, the hand on his shoulder sliding to rub his arm gently. "But it is what it is and we can't change that now."

Leaning against the table beside Pepper, he let his head fall against her shoulder again and sighed. "I always figured if I was going to be a dad, someone'd slap me with a paternity suite early enough on that I'd have the chance to at least know the kid." And that was really what hurt: the fact that he didn't get to be a dad. Yeah, he wasn't exactly father of the year material, but the idea of being a dad wasn't the worst thing in the world either. He could raise a kid from infancy to adulthood. And with Darcy, he wished he'd gotten that chance. "I wish I coulda been her father, Pep. I- I want to be a dad. Her dad. She's my daughter, it's not fair that I never got to be her father."

He felt Pepper rest her cheek against his head, one of her hands reaching up to stroke his hair. "It isn't too late, Tony. You could still step in now."

"Except now she doesn't want a father," pointed out Tony. "And regardless, I still wouldn't get to raise her."

"But she's in your life," remarked Pepper. "She shares a workshop with you, invents with you, causes explosions with you." Her head lifted from it's place against his for a moment before fingers were lifting his face towards her own. Blue met blue in a sharp moment of connection before Pepper continued. "You are her father, Tony. She might not call you that, but you're her father none the less. You try to keep her safe, screened her boyfriend in a matter of speaking, and you're there when she needs to cry. You reunited her with her dog and her car, laughed at her pranks, and opened your workshop and your home to her when she quit her job. Tony, you're as much a father to her as her adoptive one. Possibly more. And she loves you for it."

"You think Pep?" asked Tony hopefully.

"I know," insisted Pepper gently. "And I'm going to make sure that this gap between you two goes away. I'll find a way to make everything better Tony. Just watch."


End file.
